PAVED WITH OYSTERS

Evening Star, Issue 20591, 17 September 1930, Page 14

PAVED WITH OYSTERS

FOVEAUX STRAITS' GREAT ASSET

IKTERESTIHG HISTORY OF SUCCULENT BIVALVE

Tho query, a short while back, in a Southland newspaper as to the first ,oyster mid where it came from, also an interesting article latci by Milling ,tones upon the habils of the oyster, have led the Bluff correspondent of the ‘Southland News’ to contribute what little knowledge Ims been gathered upon the subject. To tins can be added a tow years’ practical experience in oyster dredging in Foveaux Straits. The query referred to was in regard to the inception of the oyster in 'Foveaux Straits, and tho theory was advanced that the vast bods between Stewart Island and tho mainland owed their origin to a few sacks of oysters thrown overboard at or near Ruapukc, Island by that early lUvertou pioneer Captain Ilowcll. The talo goes that Captain Howell was bringing a load of sheep to i " aiiey m a sailing ves-sel-—l. think in the year 18-3 G. He also bad on board a quantity of Sydney oysters which ho thought would thrive and multiply among tho. rocks outside Riverton Harbour. Becoming windbound at Ruapnke Island, the oysters commenced to go bad, and it is said that, despairing of getting them to Riverton alive, the captain dumped them overside. Those oysters, coming from tho warm latitude of Sydney, could hardly have stood th© temperature of tho water in these southern regions, and ibo theory that they were tho progenitors of tho Foveaux Strait oyster must bo dismissed for that reason alone. Tho bivalve must have been in our waters since time began, although they wore not discovered until well on in the ’sixties.

In the early ’sixties Messrs George Newton (who is still halo and hearty at the advanced age of 87, and resides it Ibo Port), Thomas Cross, and John Stirling gathered the mud oysters in Port Adventure, Stewart Island, and mi a small cutter, tho Swift, took them to Fort Chalmers, whero they were disposed of to the white settlers of Otago Peninsula. Others also brought shipments in small vessels to the New River. FIRST OYSTERS DREDGED.

Tho first oysters dredged from flip bottom of Foveaux Straits were caught by a man mimed Charley Brett in a small schoonei named Uedclilf, This Charley Brett came to New Zealand with Thomas llOcleriques in a small cutter called tho Fly. They had sailed from Geelong, in Victoria; neither had •i master’s ticket, but simply relied upon “ dead reckoning.” Rodcriqucs bad his young family with him, and iater settled in Riverton. These inrrenid mariners were so accurate, even - i tli tho limited instruments at their i-posal, that they finally picked up '•"ir idi.ieeUvo, South-west Cape of ■ w Zealand, without any trouble, they entered into the Port Adventure ov.-.i.w trade and after a time separated. Brett procured the schooner Hcdelilf from Dunedin and commenced trawling for fish off the northern coast of Stewart Island (facing Bluff Hill). The bed of tho sea was so rough that the trawl was continually getting torn. Whenever tho trawl was hoisted aboard it was always found to contain a number of oysters This turned fishermen’s thoughts and ingenuity towards some contrivance to profitably catch the shellfish, and the outcome was tho oyster dredge, similar in shape to that in use to-day but very much smaller. That was undoubtedly tho beginning of the oyster industry proper: from dredging by hand, by windlass, then by oil engine until to-day, when one can walk along tho Bluff wharf and view the powerful steam dredgers with their modern equipment. The actual value of the season’s catch is not known to the writer, but it is probably Bluff’s chief natural asset. ENEMIES OF THE BIVALVES. The oyster, as Mr Milling Jones states, has many enemies, particularly in its embryo state. The spawn, in countless figures, quickly disappears nourish other denizens of the deep; perhaps this is a wise dispensation of Providence. One particular enemy that the mature oyster has to contend with deserves mention; it is the “five finger,” a species of starfish, and most voracious; always on the lookout for the shellfish to open its mouth for sust tcnauco, it quickly inserts one of its hard “fingers” between the upper and lower shell; it then enjoys the feast at leisure. Proof of tho destructiveness of this and other enemies is amply provided by the largo number of empty shells that are brought to- the surface in tho oyster boats’ dredges. With regard to tho extent of the beds that is not definitely known. In places they vary, from half a mile to- three and four miles in length, with unproductive patches between. Oysters have, however, been brought to tho surface between Centre Island and the lonely Solandcrs to the westward, and to tho eastward of Toby Rook off tho north end of lluapuko Island—roughly a space of sixty miles intervening. PROLIFIC SUPPLY. The prolific nature of the oyster is clearly shown in tho fact that dredging hai been carried on in Foveaux Straits for well over sixty years, the boats seldom go beyond an eight-mile limit, and yet the market can bo fully supplied by the fleet working only half-time. In conclusion, it may bo mentioned that there are three varieties of oysters within a very small radius—namely, the Straits oyster proper, rock oysters of Pegasus Harbour, and tho mud variety of Port Adventure. The latter, in the opinion of many, are tho most delicious, but they have been so depleted that marketable quantities arc not procurable.